“HOLD ON…”

 

BIBLE READING: Genesis 31-33

                                                                                                    

                If there was one thing Jacob was good at, it was holding on. At birth, he held onto his brother's heel. Then he'd grabbed a hold of Esau's birthright and blessing. He continued to hang on for fourteen years to get his wife Rachel.  Now in Genesis 32, Jacob is once again holding on and he is not going to let go until he gets what he wants: a blessing.   As Jacob is returning home to have his reunion with his brother Esau, he sends his family on ahead while he stays behind. I guess he thought that Esau would have compassion on him when he saw all his family coming ahead, not to mention the gifts he was offering him. As Jacob slept, an angel grabbed him, and wrestled with him all night.  As the night continues neither wrestler could prevail. Finally, as day broke, the angel demanded "Release me." But Jacob being Jacob would not let go. "Not until you bless me," he told the angel.  The angel gave that blessing, but probably not as Jacob expected. The angel gave him a limp and then changed his name to Israel.  Only then did Jacob finally let go. Jacob wasn't touched by an angel. He was grabbed, whacked, roughed up by an angel. Sometimes we are too. Like any relationship worth having, the relationship with God is not all sweetness, light, nor even love. Sometimes it is a wrestling match that demands that we, like Jacob, hang in and hold on. And sometimes the blessings we receive aren't what we expect.                                                                         -Portions of this article came from Talitha Arnold

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